Document 1: Letter from Charles Sumner to John Bright

Charles Sumner was a U.S. Senator from Massachusetts and leading

member of the Radical Republicans during the Civil War. Throughout
the Civil War, Sumner corresponded with fellow abolitionist John
Bright (1811-1889), a progressive member of the British Parliament
and a Quaker who advocated universal suffrage and the abolition of
slavery.

I have yr good & most suggestive letter. I concur in it substantially. A

practical difficulty is this; can Emancipation be carried out without
using the lands of the slave-masters. We must see that the
freedmen are established on the soil & that they may become
proprietors. From the beginning I have regarded confiscation only as
ancillary to Emancipation. The great plantations, which have been so
many nurseries of the rebellion, must be broken up, & the freedmen
must share the pieces.

It looks as if we were on the eve of another agitation. I insist that the rebel States shall not come
back except on the footing of the Decltn of Indep. with all persons equal before the law, & govt.
founded on the consent of the governed. In other words, there shall be no discrimination on account of
color. If all whites vote, then must all blacks; but there shall be no limitation of suffrage for one more
than the other.

It is sometimes said “what—let the freedmen yesterday a slave vote?” I am inclined to think that
there is more harm in refusing than in conceding the franchise [i.e., the vote]. It is said that they are as
intelligent as the Irish just arrived. But the question has become immensely practical in this respect.
Without their votes, we cannot establish stable govts. in the rebel states. Their votes are as necessary as
their musquets. Of this I am satisfied. Without them, the old enemy will reappear &, under the forms of
law, take possession of the govts.—choose magistrates & officers—&, in alliance with the Northern
democracy [i.e., “Peace” Democrats in the Northern States], put us all in peril again, postpone the day
of tranquility, & menace the national credit by assailing the national debt. To my mind, the nation is
now bound by self-interest—aye, self-defence—to be thoroughly just.

The Declaration of Indep. has pledges which have never been redeemed. We must redeem them,
as least as regards the rebel states which have fallen under our jurisdiction. Mr Lincoln is slow in
accepting truths. I have reminded him that if he would say the word we might settle this question
promptly & rightly. He hesitates.

...

That has been much misunderstood in Europe. It has been supposed sometimes as a menace of
subjugation. Nothing further from my mind—at least in any offensive sense. I felt that the rebel region
must for a while pass under the jurisdiction of Congress, in order to set up the necessary safeguards for
the future; & I have labored to this end.
 Document 2: Jefferson Davis, “African Church Speech”
Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America, delivered one of his last public
speeches of the Civil War in the African Church of Richmond. Although it had housed a black Baptis
congregation since the 1840s, it was the largest auditorium in the Confederate capital and was used
whites during the week for social and political events. The following is a transcript of the speech as
recorded by the Richmond Sentinel (February 8, 1865).

The President [Jefferson Davis] said that if he were there to assist in celebrating some great and
decisive victory to our arms, or in hailing the establishment of peace, he should have been most happy.
But, in times like those which are now upon us—when dangers confront us and our path is beside the
lee-shore and the breakers—to witness the manifestation of such a spirit on the part of his countrymen
as was there displayed, was more than happiness—it was ecstatic joy! He had always looked with pride
upon his countrymen. He had rejoiced in their patriotism and their courage. But he was prouder still
when he contemplated the fortitude which plucks flowers from reverses, and beats high with hope in
the presence of fresh calls upon its courage and endurance.

The President said it was meet [i.e., fitting] that the spirit which inspired this meeting, should find its
first utterance in Richmond. Here every day were heard the cannons of the enemy. Innumerable
hillocks in the neighboring cemeteries, tell of the brave men from every State in the Confederacy who
have given their lives for their country. On one of the hills of this city stands that sacred building, in
which Patrick Henry and his compatriots, pledged life for liberty. Here, too, was the capitol of the
Confederacy, and of that proud old State, which had been truly termed “the mother of statesmen.” If the
spirit which has been here indicated shall meet with a general response, and prove to be the universal
sentiment of the land, of which he did not doubt, then, indeed, would he feel that we are on the very
verge of success.—[Loud cheers.] We should not again be insulted by such terms of peace as the
arrogance of the enemy has lately proposed*; but ere many months had elapsed, our successes would
cause them to feel that when talking to us they were talking to their masters.—[Great applause.]

Does any one, he inquired, who has seen the Confederate soldiers, believe they are willing to fail? If so,
the suspicion is most unjust! Go to our camps; go to our guarded lines; go where our pickets hold their
dangerous watch, and to the posts where our sentinels tread their weary rounds, and you will find in
none of those the place for grumblings and complaints. The resolutions of our soldiers exclaim with
Patrick Henry, “Victory or death!” It is in the crowded mart, where these are found whose pockets are
stuffed with ill-gotten gains, that you find the persons who grumble and complain. [Applause] The
progress of events had, however, brought a pressure even upon these which would urge them to their
duty. Their treasure is in danger, and their only security for it is in performing their duty to their
country.

The time for argument, said the President, is passed. The duty that remains is to stand to our arms. He
had just made an effort to secure peace, as he has done several times before. He had made it in the
cause of humanity and the country. At the very organization of our Government, in Montgomery, his
first care was to send Commissioners to Washington. They were rejected. At a later period, he had
requested the second officer under the Government (Vice President Stephens,) to seek a conference; the
avowed object being to make arrangements for the proper treatment and exchange of prisoners, but in
addition to, and behind that, it was the object to institute, if possible, negotiations for peace. But our
Vice President was refused an audience; not even allowed to approach the throne. Since that time he
had in various ways, and on every proper occasion, proclaimed the desire of this country for peace, and
his own anxiety to secure it, but until lately, no opening had presented for an advance toward
negotiation. This recent opportunity he had embraced. He did it in the hope that some plan of
accommodation might be agreed upon. He would be less than man if he had not felt an earnest desire, a
yearning anxiety, to relieve the country from the sufferings of the war, and to send our soldiers to their
homes. Anything honorable, and recognizing our independence as a basis, would have been gladly
acceded to. The person did not know him who might suppose that, under any circumstance, he would
consent to reconstruct the late Union.

We had now learned the terms on which the enemy are willing to accord peace. We are required to
make an unconditional surrender. We are not even allowed to go back to them as we came out, but are
required to take just what a conqueror may choose to give the conquered.

Man proposes, but God disposes. Relying on the courage and devotion of his countrymen and
reverently appealing to Heaven for its aid to our cause, the President said his confidence was firm, that
God would abase the arrogance of our enemies, and crown our exertions with triumph.

. . . History affords no parallel, the President continued, to the struggle which our country is making—
to the cheerfulness with which our people have borne sacrifices, and the courage with which our armies
have marched to the harvest of death. It was this magnanimous spirit which sustained him in the
confidence that we should triumph in the end. We have been chastened, and may be again. Let us profit
by the lesson reverses are designed to teach, that we are not to serve a friend merely because he is such,
or strike an enemy when we might serve the country.

The President here said that his failing strength admonished him to close his remarks; but he yielded to
loud requests to “go on.” We must, he said, lock shields together and go forward to save our country, or
sink together to honorable graves. [Loud applause.] He was not of those who had expected no discord
and no parties, but if our disagreements result from passion we must exorcise it, and make the good of
our country our sole aim. If we will all do our duty, we shall reap a brilliant reward. If the absentees,
from our armies will return, and if the local assistance be rendered which may be readily afforded, the
noble Army of Northern Virginia will read General Grant a yet severer lesson than it taught him from
the Rapidan to the James; while the gallant Beauregard** will cause Sherman’s march across Georgia to
be his last.

In conclusion, the President said, he had gratifying proofs of the spirit which animated the people
whom he addressed. He had seen even the old men upon duty, careless alike of the piercing blast and
whistling bullet; and your women have declared that they will fight the battle if you should recoil! God
bless your proud spirit and manly fortitude! History will delight to dwell upon your praise!

* At the Hampton Roads Conference (February 3, 1865) with Confederate commissioners, including Vice President Alexander Stephens,
President Lincoln and Secretary of State William H. Seward met to discuss terms of peace. During the four-hour meeting, Lincoln was
inflexible on the following terms: a “restoration of the National authority throughout all the States”; “No receding . . . on the Slavery
question,” including the Emancipation Proclamation; and “No cessation of hostilities short of an end of the war [e.g., no armistice], and
the disbanding of all forces hostile to the government.”

** General Beauregard was the Commander of Southern forces who was given the responsibility of trying to stop Union General
Sherman as he marched through the South.
 Document Analysis Worksheet: Lincoln's Inaugural Address

Document 1 Document 1

Text 1. What does Sumner propose should be done with

the land of the former slave-owners in the South?

2. What reasons does Sumner give for securing

Context “suffrage” (or voting rights) to freedmen? What
ultimate benefit does this bestow on the United
States?

3. What attitude does Sumner have toward the

Subtext “rebel states”? Give adjectives he uses to justify
your answer.

Document 2 Document 2

1. Is Davis hopeful or pessimistic about the Text

chance for Confederate victory? Explain.

2. What does Davis call upon all Confederate

citizens to do in order to achieve victory? Context

3. What can you infer about the state of morale of

the Confederate army? Cite two examples. Subtext
Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address
March 4th, 1865

Fellow-Countrymen:

AT this second appearing to take the oath

of the Presidential office there is less
occasion for an extended address than there
was at the first. Then a statement somewhat
in detail of a course to be pursued seemed
fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of
four years, during which public declarations
have been constantly called forth on every
point and phase of the great contest which
still absorbs the attention and engrosses the
energies of the nation, little that is new
could be presented. The progress of our
arms, upon which all else chiefly depends,
is as well known to the public as to myself,
and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and
encouraging to all. With high hope for the
future, no prediction in regard to it is
ventured.

On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts were anxiously directed
to an impending civil war. All dreaded it, all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address
was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war,
urgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war—seeking to dissolve the
Union and divide effects by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war, but one of them
would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather
than let it perish, and the war came.

One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the
Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and
powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To
strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents
would rend the Union even by war, while the Government claimed no right to do more than
to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude
or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the
conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an
easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and
pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that
any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of
other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not
be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes.
"Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe
to that man by whom the offense cometh." If we shall suppose that American slavery is one
of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having
continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both
North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall
we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living
God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty
scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth
piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and
until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the
sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the
Lord are true and righteous altogether."

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to
see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to
care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all
which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all
nations.
 Analysis of Lincoln's Second Inaugural

The inaugural address is the opportunity for a president to set policy. Fresh from electoral victory,
presidents often find that the first 100 days or so after their inaugural address is the chance to push the
agenda

Today you looked at the events swirling around President Lincoln when he took the stage to make his
inaugural address on March 4th, 1865. And you wrote a speech in which you tried to imagine how a
president would begin to put a wounded nation back together. Your task now is to compare what you
wrote with what the actual president did.

Attached to this worksheet is a copy of Lincoln's second inaugural address. In a well-composed essay,
examine the similarities and differences between your view of the time immediately after the Civil War
and Lincoln's view of the time. A good essay would consider the following:

• How difficult did you find writing the speech? What about the time period and the events of
1865 make writing an inaugural address particularly challenging?
• Compare Lincoln's approach to the South to your approach to the South; whose is more lenient?
Whose is more accurate? Explain why.
• Does Lincoln's speech have many specific policy proposals on how to solve the problem of the
union? How specific is your speech on policy proposals, and why do you think you were
similar/different to Lincoln?
• Overall, do you think that Lincoln's second inaugural is effective at beginning the healing
process?

This assignment is worth 20 points (5 points per bullet), and is due on _____________________.
 Writing an Inaugural Address
According to the Constitution, the only required ceremony for a new
president is to take an oath that he/she can “faithfully execute the
laws of the nation.” However, the Inauguration Day has since
become a whole day event filled with tradition, with the inaugural
address being an important piece.

In an inaugural address, presidents generally choose to outline their

vision for the term and to set policy. Oftentimes, the period
immediately after the inauguration is the time when presidents have
the most political capital, so it makes sense for them to push
programs when they have popularity.

Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural took place on March 4th, 1865.

The Civil War is in its dying stages, and it appears on Inauguration
Day that the North will win the war. However, the impending
victory begs the question: what is next?

Taking into account the events at the time, and the difficulties of healing a nation, your task will be to
write Lincoln's second inaugural address. Your speech should include the following:
• what you know to be true about the nation in 1865
• your thoughts on the cause of the war
• a way to put the nation's conflict into perspective
• how you will deal with a nation whose regions are hostile to each other
• where you will lead the country over the next four years
• your goals and vision for the nation

All of this should be done relatively succinctly; about 700 words. Be sure to include the material from
the bullets, and remember the purpose of the inaugural address: you are trying to both inspire people
while making them understand the gravity of the situation.

Your speech is worth 12 points (2 points per bullet), and is due _________________________.